In a major exodus, 79 'rebel' players took advantage of BCCI's time-bound amnesty offer and deserted the Indian Cricket League to return to official, mainstream cricket.

In a major exodus, 79 'rebel' players took advantage of BCCI's time-bound amnesty offer and deserted the Indian Cricket League to return to official, mainstream cricket.

The BCCI on Tuesday said in a statement that the cricketers snapped their ICL ties to immediately become eligible for domestic cricket and would also be considered for international matches once they complete their one year cooling off period.

Among the 101 players and others who have deserted ICL, bankrolled by the Essel Group, were former internationals Rohan Gavaskar, Deep Dasgupta (Bengal), Dinesh Mongia, Reetinder Sodhi (Punjab) and Hemang Badani (Tamil Nadu).

The 11 former cricketers who have quit the ICL are ex-Test skipper Ajit Wadekar, spin legend Erapalli Prasanna and 1983 World Cup-winning Indian squad members Sandeep Patil, Madan Lal and Balwinder Singh Sandhu.

Most of them were tied up with the ICL as coaches.

Significantly, India's only World Cup-winning skipper Kapil Dev, who is the chairman of the ICL's Executive Board, has not severed his relations with the league along with former Test stumper and ex-Chief Selector Kiran More.

"The BCCI, after scrutinizing their requests, has written to the concerned state associations that these players are eligible to play in the domestic tournaments for this year", said BCCI secretary N Srinivasan.